The Virtuals Protocol ecosystem has seen a 28% increase in value, resulting in a total market capitalization of $1.9 billion for Base blockchain tokens. The native VIRTUAL token has risen by nearly 29% in the last 24 hours and 161% in the last week, hitting an all-time high and entering the top 100 cryptocurrencies by market cap.

This growth is driven by increased demand for AI agents, or autonomous programs that can perform tasks, understand their environment, make decisions, and take action to achieve their goals. Virtuals Protocol, launched in January, is a launchpad and marketplace for gaming and entertainment AI agents.

It allows developers to build AI agents with six core functionalities and aims to enable many people to participate in the ownership of AI agents. The tokens within the Virtuals Protocol ecosystem saw significant gains on Friday, including Aixbt by Virtuals (AIXBT), which rose 23.8% to $0.21, and Luna by Virtuals (LUNA), which increased 9.4% to $0.08.

The rising interest in AI agents in the blockchain space is a natural progression for an industry that operates 24/7 with no downtime. Autonomous agents can use crypto and on-chain data, and the agent’s ability to send money to anyone on the internet offers a significant advantage in facilitating transactions for users.

Analysts expect the AI Agent market to grow by 45% by 2023, reaching a value of $5.54 billion.

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